A general view shows the courtyard of the Elysee Palace as journalists wait for the arrival of European leaders for a meeting on Ukraine and European security at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on February 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron called leaders from key European Union nations and the United Kingdom to his ornate Elysee Palace on Monday (February 17, 2025) for an emergency meeting on how to react to the U.S. diplomatic blitz on Ukraine, which left the once rock-solid partner as a potential political liability.
The first visit by top U.S. officials to Europe has left the impression that the Trump administration was ready to embrace the Kremlin while it cold-shouldered many of its age-old European allies.
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Despite belligerent warnings for months ahead of Donald Trump’s re-election as U.S. president, EU leaders publicly ignored the ominous forebodings and somehow hoped Trump would stand side by side with Europe, while the continent would finally start to act on beefing up its defences and become less reliant on the firepower of Washington.
But a flurry of speeches by Vice President J.D. Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth during their initial visits to Europe last week questioned both Europe’s security commitments and its fundamental democratic principles. Mr. Macron said their stinging rebukes and threats of non-cooperation in the face of military danger felt like a shock to the system.
The tipping point came when Mr. Trump decided to upend years of U.S. policy by holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Then, Mr. Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia on Saturday (February 15, 2025) all but ruled out the inclusion of other Europeans in any Ukraine peace talks.
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Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s Foreign Minister, called the week “an existential moment. It’s a moment where Europe has to stand up.”
That’s where Mr. Macron hopes to step in with Monday’s (February 17, 2025) meeting. Even if Jean-Noël Barrot, Mr. Macron’s Foreign Minister, sought to play down the significance of the emergency huddle of Europe’s main leaders, the weekend scramble to set up the meeting underscored something much more fundamental.
Ever since World War II, the United States and western European nations have basically walked in lockstep as they confronted the Soviet Union during the Cold War right up to the increasingly aggressive actions of current-day Russia close to its borders. Even if there had long been U.S. complaints about the reluctance of many European NATO nations to step up their defence efforts, they never boiled up to the political surface as they have over the past days.
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On Monday (February 17, 2025), Mr. Macron will have afternoon talks with the leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and the European Union on how to deal with Europe’s security quandary. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will also attend.
French officials said no firm decisions are expected to emerge beyond a show of unity of European leaders.
“There is a wind of unity blowing over Europe, as we perhaps have not felt since the COVID period,” said Mr. Barrot, referring to the pandemic in 2020 when the 27 EU nations had to stand side by side to stave off a health catastrophe.
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A strong U.S. link, though, will remain essential for the foreseeable future since it will take many years before European nations can ratchet up defence equipment production and integrate it into an effective force.
That U.S. bond also applies to dealing with war in Ukraine, said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “U.S. support will remain critical and a U.S. security guarantee is essential for a lasting peace, because only the U.S. can deter Putin from attacking again,” Mr. Starmer wrote in Monday’s (February 17, 2025) Daily Telegraph.
While many EU nations are still mulling whether to contribute troops to a potential force in Ukraine after a peace deal, Mr. Starmer said that the U.K. was “ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary.
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“I do not say that lightly. I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way,” he wrote.
European nations are bent on boosting Ukraine where they can, and EU nations see eye to eye when it comes to upping defence spending. However, even if there is a general consensus to move beyond the goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defence, it is hardly clear how to get to 3%.
Some EU nations are insisting on an agreement on joint borrowing for massive defence projects, while others are insisting it is the task of the nations that lag in spending to get to the 2% threshold first. That issue is also set to be discussed at the meeting.
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But some of the EU nations balked at the thought of the restrictive Elysee meeting with only a few chosen leaders while others were left in the cold. For an uncomfortable number of decisions, the EU needs the backing of all 27 nations. It raises the issue of veto power, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a staunch Putin ally has already threatened to use on plenty of occasions.
Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar said the selective list of invitees was proof that the EU member states are not treated equally. “This is not Europe that commands respect abroad. This is not the Europe that would be a serious partner to the North American ally,” she said.
Published – February 17, 2025 08:55 pm IST
